NHRA Video Blog 1

Even after teammates depart, the Army racing team knows how to regroup and focus on winning.

This year we had a big change in crew because the end of last year came about. Our crew chief who had won five world championships with us and also he was leaving for the Al-Anabi team and the majority actually all the team followed him to the Sheik of Qatar's new car. And we had to form a new team and at that point I think a lot of the media had formed or made some statements that we were, we were in trouble or we'd never win again.

We had to assemble a new team and I think this is the absolute perfect example for the Army, that it is not about one guy, because it is not about any one single person. Our team won championships because we had incredible group of people. They moved on to try to race against the Army car; we brought in new guys.

But just like the Army when a General retires the Army doesn't all of a sudden fail, we bring in a new guy and we train a new person. We teach them how to lead and we teach them how to win.

And we put these Army colors on, we're no longer selling auto parts, we're no longer selling beverages, we're selling a way of life and it's incredible how proud and how quickly they become part of an incredible team. We've seen it time and time again.

We've won championships with three different, or two different crew chiefs and this year if all goes well we'll have a chance to win a third.

In every race we bring out Home Town Heroes. And this race here in Ohio, we have Sergeant Christopher Greer who's a Bronze Star recipient from right here in Mansfield, Ohio. And its neat to be able to bring out these guys that have done so much, given so much for our country and show them an awesome team and how the team works and also give them a little bit of entertainment to see their Army car, you know, their own base right here, go out and win races man, it's something really cool to be a part of, I look forward each and every weekend and it's really a pleasure for me.

So, we need to win races and we need to prove that the Army team does not falter because the crew changed because we bring people in. We can motivate and we can excel at anything because we are a great team, planning on winning a championship for you. So again this is Tony Schumacher driving the U.S. Army top fuel dragster signing out. It's time to go race.